Fresno Mayor Alan Autry Apologizes for Their City's Mistreatment Of Homeless Residents - Can San Francisco Officials Admit Their Mistakes ?

We, the homeless residents of San Francisco applaud what appears to be a genuine apology to the people of Fresno by Mayor Autry, in which he states regret at their 'failure' to treat homeless people with compassion in the planning and delivery of services to them.

This man is demonstrating a leadership quality that appears to be very lacking here in San Francisco. Fresno's Mayor is admitting their homeless programs and plans have failed.

It takes a great and wise man to admit his own City's mistakes.

Our SF City Officials, at all levels, would be wise to pay attention and 'find the wisdom and the courage' to be more like this Mayor who is putting humanity and justice ahead of money and politics.

Instead of running and hiding away from public view (as some Mayors and City Officials often do) Fresno's Mayor is stepping up to the plate and embracing his homeless community with stark and uncommon honesty.

A homeless community whom has just won an award by The Honorable United States District Judge Oliver W. Wanger of over $2 Million Dollars based on the ilegal taking of 225 homeless residents' property by Fresno City Workers.

The homeless plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Kincaid v. Fresno, were represented by a team of attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) and the law firm of Heller Ehrman LLP.

“The Court’s ruling and the settlement should send a strong message to other cities throughout our country that if they violate the rights of their most vulnerable residents, they will be held accountable,” said ACLU-NC staff attorney Michael Risher.

Plaintiff Al Williams suffered the effects of the raids on three occasions.

In addition to losing clothes and food, his wife’s wheelchair was destroyed and her medicines confiscated by Fresno police officers.

I felt like everything was taken away from me, but this settlement gives me hope for the future for myself and all the other people who suffered,” said Williams, who now hosts a local radio show in Fresno.

“Many homeless people lost everything they owned to the City’s trash compactors and bulldozers. With this settlement, they can access what has always been the solution to homelessness: a safe, clean place to live,” said Elisa Della-Piana, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee.

This Honorable Mayor He has invited a new Task Force 'to develop a blueprint for how to develop a Housing First model that will provide homeless people a place to live without pre conditions' .... 'There is no requirement on those individuals. I’m ready to go there'

This has happened here in San Francisco. Our property, family photos, medicine and many other valuable and personal property has been taken, lost, destroyed and confiscated by San Francisco Police Officers (SFPD), Department of Public Works (DPW), City contracted security officers and staff at tax funded homeless shelters, resource centers and parks.

To date, all we have gotten back for the property that has been taken away from thousands of our own homeless and poor residents here has been 'silence' and an occasional 'sorry about that' from our City Officials and the contracted workers and civil servants who have likewise broken laws and violated the Constitution by taking away our things of value away from us.

Our City Officials in San Francisco and all of our civil servants and contracted non-profits and security guard companies MUST be held ACCOUNTABLE for their wrongdoings just as the People of Fresno are holding their City Officials accountable.

The SFHomeless Yahoo! Group is now seeking to file a similiar suit to 'right the wrongs' of this City's Administration who, in great haste, ignorance and disrespect for the Constitution have also routinely been taking away our property for the past 15 years.

From perhaps as many as tens of thousands of our residents whose only real crime was to be poor and home-less in a City that has too many uncaring people ordering City Workers to do horrendous things that they would not do against a member of their own family but they followed orders and did these bad things against the Supreme Law of The Land.

Our City Officials and their workers have violated their oaths to the Constitution in order to cater to the whims of the non-homeless residents and business interests. They are not worthy of the offices that they hold because they failed to protect us, the most vulnerable members of our community and totally failed to protect our property. They have caused us all great harm and we are seeking adequate reparations.

Our plan is to seek a suit in the US District Court to right these wrongs and use the award to build our own systems, designed and managed entirely by our own local homeless and formerly homeless residents. We have doctors, lawyers, shelter directors, social workers and many other talented people who are now part of our home-less community.

We WILL NOT allow any award we recieve to fall into the hands of those City Officials, Agencies and Non-Profits Serrvice Providers whom have all FAILED US for the past 15 years.

We WILL NOT let any of them fool us again so they can continue their abuse of our people or allow them to steal any more money or food that is intended to be in our hands for our benefit, not for the benefit of the corrupted. Those days are over.

IF YOU HAVE HAD YOUR PROPERTY TAKEN OR CONFISCATED BY ANY CITY WORKER, POLICE OFFICER, SECURITY GUARD OR NON-PROFIT SERVICE PROVIDER STAFF, EMAIL US TODAY AND WE WILL SEND YOU A LINK TO OUR 'PROPERTY TAKEN' REGISTRY TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE INCLUDED IN ANY SUITS FILED.

IF YOUR LAW FIRM HAS EXPERIENCE IN CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES AND HAS PRACTICED BEFORE THE US DISTRICT COURTS IN CALIFORNIA, WE WELCOME YOUR CORRESPONDENCE ON THIS IMPORTANT MATTER.

Finally, a big THANK YOU to Mayor Autry and the Honorable Judge Oliver W. Wanger for their courage and some restoration of dignity, respect and just compensation and compassion towards our brothers and sisters in Fresno.

BRAVO FOR YOUR GOOD WORKS.